Turning knowledge into action

Global challenge #6: Technology

Towards Superintelligence

Artificial Intelligence has already transformed humanity for the better, but its downsides are no less insidious than the plots of dystopian sci-fi fantasies that taught us to fear a robotic future. Humanity’s next challenge will be how to navigate all this uncertainty by designing systems and frameworks that protect us from AI’s potential dangers.

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Explore global challenges

Global challenge #1: Environment

The Arctic

The Arctic is a barometer for our changing planet; at the mercy of a precarious balance of national and corporate interests, simultaneously struggling with the imminent reality of climate breakdown. A range of global experts illuminate the various challenges facing the region and the measures that can be taken to tackle them.

Global challenge #2: Population

Megacites: Boom or bust?

The future of human habitation lies in cities, but the world’s urban environments are imbalanced at best. In cities we see the greatest wealth, innovation and standards of living, but also the worst poverty, crime and mental health issues. Inequality is rife. To save the cities of the future we must fix the cities of today.

Global challenge #3: Health

The New Old

As a global population we’re staying alive longer – a phenomenon brought about by dramatic advances in medical science, public health and education. But those additional years are some of the most complex we’ve ever faced. Ageing is an inevitability that will affect us all, but through radical new thinking could be transformed into a process of renewal instead of decline.

Global challenge #4: Society

Power

Dangerous authoritarian populism has become the dominant form of global power, publicly reinforcing the values of nationalism while deconstructing the state for private gains. How did this happen and, more importantly, what better models exist to remedy this global state of ideological confusion?

Global challenge #5: Sustenance

What’s eating the world?

The systems that govern the global production and consumption of food are some of the most damaging to the health of both our bodies and our planet. If left unaddressed, they could provoke health and environmental crises of unimaginable scale. What can be done to change that?